Talk:Sparks Will Fly (1)/@comment-5483266-20140410163646
I don't express my love for Sansa Stark nearly as often as I should, so I thought I'd share some of my thoughts regarding the irrational hatred surrounding her character. it honestly irritates me like no other whenever people condemn Sansa for not being more of a stereotypical BAMF warrior like Arya and Brienne. She is still very much a proactive, pragmatic young woman with a strong sense of justice and a mind of her own; the key difference being that Sansa relies upon her mental abilities rather than brute strength and physical prowess to survive. Her weapon is her wit. Sansa possesses the ability to maintain appearances and formalities in a royal court that largely scorns her as the flesh and blood of a traitor. She is essentially trapped in a completely different, yet exponentially hostile environment. Trust is a luxury she cannot have. Sansa is the lone wolf in the den of lions who mercilessly slaughtered her family and it's a testament to the potency of her strength and bravery that she is still alive, given the ruthlessness of her enemies and how even the slightest of incongruities on her part could result in pain of death. Being feminine does not signify weakness. Femininity is not an innately inferior quality. While Cersei, Arya, and Brienne are all undoubtedly strong women, Sansa is in no way inferior for lacking their masculine traits. She does not necessarily have to know how to wield a sword to be a powerful heroine, and this notion that women cannot be respectable independent individuals unless and until they adapt stereotypically masculine characteristics is just a disgustingly sexist trope in literature. Women are complex. Women are multifaceted. They are not defined by their affinity to conform to or defy traditional gender roles, nor are they any lesser for being feminine. One's character lies in their convictions and moral compass, not in how they dress or whether or not they can fight "like a man". Sansa's character defies these conventions as she effectively symbolizes how societal expectations of women eventually become their undoing. She is forging her own path in a time of crisis just as Arya is, albeit through different means and in a far more discreet manner, as anything otherwise would surely result in her death. She cannot afford to follow in her fallen family's footsteps; a message that Joffrey and the Lannisters reinforce time and time again with their presence, one that she will always heed ever since the ghastly sight of her father's decapitated head imprinted on her mind. She is no longer that naive, selfish brat with unrealistic ideals of a chivalrous, handsome, honourable and kind Prince Charming giving Sansa her happily ever after. Gone is the spoiled and immature little girl who believed in stories of fairy tale romances. All the adversity she has faced in her time at King's Landing, from witnessing her father's execution, to being subjected to emotional and physical abuse at the hands of a sadistic King who completely shatters her perceptions of significant others in the worst possible way and violates her autonomy, to nearly getting gang-raped, and last but not least imprisoned in a loveless marriage to the uncle of her father's murderer, and the son of the man who ordered the systematic slaughter of her mother and brother. In addition to her insurmountable courage and strength, Sansa is also kind. She feels with the deepest recesses of her heart, and she CARES for the people under the Lannisters' rule. She comforts them during the Battle of the Blackwater with her songs and states that if she were Queen, she would make the people love her as she does them. In a dystopian world where people die for the most trivial of offenses, Sansa endures. Sansa survives, and she is biding her time to avenge her House because the North remembers. She is learning to adapt to the nature of this deadly game of politics and navigate her way through a brutal, relentless power struggle that killed much older and more experienced players, including her own father. Sansa weaponizes her intellect and does so brilliantly for such a young girl. She uses her words as armour, and courtesy is her sword. Maintaining appearances and formalities in the royal court are not tactical gambits and strategems to be underestimated, and this could not be more evident when you see just how far this girl has come. The fandom gives her so much vitriol for being a teenage girl, yet they overlook the fact that this girl is one of the most resilient characters of the entire series who has overcome severe emotional turmoil of the highest degree and comes out of it stronger than ever. Sansa Stark is more than a victim of circumstance and volatile politics. She is also a survivor. History is written by the survivors, and Sansa Stark is most surely that.